Weekly Update 07-12-2024

July 12, 2024

Happy Friday, Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,

I hope you’ve had another beautiful week!  I’ve had too many great interactions with people this week to even count ’em.  I find The family of God, the worldwide Family of God to be just so wonderful.  What a joy to know and love and be loved by you guys and so many more brothers and sisters around the world.  Kindness, love, generosity, mutual concern and prayer, wise counsel, encouragement…I’ve experienced all of those just this week, and with people from around the world, thanks to the internet and video calls.  It’s putting a smile on my face right now as I type these words.  We have a weekend FULL of activity, as well as some wonderful upcoming events to talk about.  You’re going to hear about:

  • Monthly After Church Prayer Meeting
  • Women of Grace Monthly Walk
  • Men of Grace Monthly Breakfast
  • Celebration of Life for Susan Little
  • The Chosen Season 4 on the Big Screen
  • Movement San Diego at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater
  • True Valor Men’s Conference
  • 14th Annual Marriage Getaway
  • Mexico Vineyard’s National Conference
  • Zambia Missions Trip Starting Monday
  • This Sunday’s Sermon

Let’s get started…

But first, speaking of awesome people in the Body of Christ, let me just say THANK YOU!!!! to all who came out tonight to serve and love the folks at the San Diego Rescue Mission in Oceanside.  You over flow with the love of Jesus!  Tonight you served dozens and dozens of hot dogs and hamburgers and all the fixin’s, we had worship music, and friendship poured out on some of our neighbors who are facing the difficulties of homelessness.  It took lots of man power and time to pull this off.  I love seeing our family work together on projects like this.  Well Done!

After Church Prayer this Sunday, July 14

This Sunday, after the church service at 11:45, we will join together for prayer.  Prayer is so important!  It really is the foundation and the power source for effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.  We’ll have “stations” set up around the terrace, each with a specific prayer focus.  We move from station to station and seek the Lord with our requests.  If you’re one of the many of us who feels like you just aren’t great at prayer, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how effective this format is.  Please join us this Sunday!

Saturday: Ladies Walk and Mens Breakfast

Tomorrow is the 2nd Saturday of the month, and that means it’s time for our Women of Grace Morning Walk and our Men of Grace monthly breakfast.

Ladies meet at 9am at the Batiquitos Lagoon Nature Center (7380 Gabbiano Lane, Carlsbad).  This is such a pretty walk around the lagoon.  Please let Kathy Green know if you plan to attend 760.583.1779.

Men meet at Ty’s Burgerhouse at 8am.  We’ll have Oceanside’s best breakfast! We’ll worship.  We’ll be inspired with a message by Scott Grinstaff.  Mostly, like the women on their walk, we’ll have a great time of fellowship together.  And if you happen to have forgotten, Fellowship is one of the greatest gifts God has given us when He brought us into His family!  Hope to see you tomorrow morning.

Celebration of Life for Susan Little, Tomorrow at 11am

Susan Little entered into her eternal reward on Saturday, June 22, and now it is time for family and friends to celebrate her life. For those who are unfamiliar with our church’s history, Susan and Jack Little were the founding pastors of our church, originally called Grace Chapel of the Coast beginning with a home fellowship in October, 1994, and moving to a Sunday morning worship gathering in 1995 (she didn’t take the title “pastor” but she definitely did the work of a pastor in every sense of the word). She was a phenomenal and loving leader, especially in the areas of children’s and women’s ministry. She was multitalented: a gifted teacher of the Word, a worship leader, an artist, an equipper of the saints in Spirit led ministry, an administrator, prophetically gifted, and more. She had an infectious laugh that filled the room with joy.
Susan won a battle with breast cancer some years back, but the cancer returned to her lung recently. After this latest diagnosis, she finished her race quickly. She was surrounded by her 3 sons, their wives, and their children these last weeks and months, and she exuded joy and peace right up to the end. Her home was filled with her children’s and grandchildren’s guitar playing and singing throughout these last weeks.  Susan’s wish was that we would celebrate her life here at Grace Vineyard. Please join us tomorrow, Saturday, July 13, at 11am.

The Chosen Season 4

We will be showing Season 4, Episodes 7&8 of The Chosen tomorrow,  Saturday, July 13th at 6:30pm on the Big Screen. Hope you can make it. The Chosen is an immensely popular multi-season series depicting the life of Jesus and his disciples.  In Season 4, John the Baptist has been arrested and meets his tragic end, foreshadowing the fate Jesus himself will suffer at the end of his life. The disciples contend with conflicts and jealousies among themselves and must learn unfamiliar qualities of humility and forgiveness. And in the final episodes we experience the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

If you’ve never seen the trailer for Season 4, I think you’d really enjoy it.  You can watch it right here:

Movement San Diego Returns Next Month

Some of you will remember last year’s Movement San Diego.  Well, we’re doing it again on July 19th.  Check it out at https://www.movementsd.com/.  Movement San Diego is an evangelistic revival event – an evening of evangelism and seeking God for revival in San Diego. The event will be led by worship teams lifting up the name of Jesus in public worship and prayer. There will be two gospel presentations with altar calls and follow up by Pastor Mike Doyle and evangelist and former professional skateboarder Bryan Sumner. Throughout the night there will also be ministry tents, teams available for prayer and counseling, and a baptismal for anyone desiring to be baptized.  Our church, along with all the other churches in North County, is invited to participate.  We’ll especially need teams to pray with people at the event.  If you’d like to participate, let me know and I’ll get you connected with the right people.

True Valor Men’s Conference

Here’s something cool for the men to put on their calendars.  On August 23-24 we are joining with Men from all over North County for a Men’s Conference at Oceanside Calvary Chapel.  If you don’t know, we live in a county that has unusual levels of unity and relationship amongst churches.  In fact I was just with a pastor from New York who is working with a multi-church outreach we are planning for July, and he mentioned how unique it is here in San Diego.  So men, we’re going to get together with men from churches all over our county for a conference designed to help us confront the deadliest manslayers of our times.  Here’s the details from the webpage for the conference:

North County Men’s Conference
August 23-24, 2024

Friday 5:00pm- 9:30pm (Includes Dinner)
Saturday 8:00am – 3:00pm (Includes Lunch)

The Men of North County will be rallying for a two-day conference called True Valor: Confronting the Deadliest Manslayers of Our Times. This conference will intentionally address the most common vices and evils that attack men, while offering an armory of practical tools and weapons to equip you to be the Priest, Provider and Protector you are called to be.

This conference will be many churches, but one brotherhood. This is a charge to every man, and to neighboring and local churches to confront these manslayers with us as a united force. This is a call for men to stand and fight. This is a call for True Valor.

For more info, contact Snake (Richard) Ertel at 760-622-4572, or check out the conference website at: https://www.calvaryoceanside.org/truevalor.
Also, check out this video for the conference:
If you didn’t recognize them, those men speaking in the video were all local pastors from San Diego.  It is going to be so inspiring to gather with these pastors and men from churches all over our county to worship, learn, and get equipped to more fully pursue the Lord in our time.  Let’s see how many Men of Grace will come together in August!

On top of all those opportunities,  I want to make sure you know about the annual Marriage Getaway coming up.

Come away with your spouse for a weekend of encouragement, relaxation, and worship!

Our 14th annual Marriage Getaway returns in 2024, August 23-25, to the gorgeous La Quinta Resort & Club. The 45 lush acres of the La Quinta Resort feature 7 restaurants, 41 climate-controlled pools, 21 tennis courts, eight pickleball courts, and a spa. Your Couple Weekend Ticket includes a two-night stay in a King Bed Casita, self-parking, resort fees & taxes, Marriage Getaway event admission for all three days, and Saturday & Sunday continental breakfast. Each couple has the opportunity to extend their stay up to 3 nights prior and 3 nights post the Marriage Getaway Weekend for an additional cost.

For more information, please go to https://www.therelationshipresource.org/marriage-getaway

Mexico Vineyard National Conference

This next event I want to tell you about  is for our Spanish speaking sisters and brothers.  Did you know that there is a Mexico Vineyard association of churches just like there is one in the U.S.?  There are actually 15 associations of Vineyard churches in various countries and regions around the world (check  out our international Vineyard family at https://vineyard.org).  Well, Steve Rogers and I were able to go to our U.S. Vineyard national conference in Denver last month, and it was so wonderful!  I was super excited to learn that the Mexico Vineyard National Conference is coming up October 16-18, and it’s very close – MexiCali.  Right now I am planning on going and I want to take as many Spanish speakers from Grace Vineyard as possible to go with me.  The good news for me is that they’ll have English translation available to help me out.  The worship from our Mexican Vineyard family is AWESOME! Please check out the details right here:  http://vinamexico.com/   Here’s an excerpt (in Spanish, of course):

Estimados Pastores y Líderes,
Estamos tan emocionados por lo que Dios ha preparado para el movimiento Viña este año. Creemos, y hemos visto, como Dios ha estado construyendo a través de una de las temporadas más difíciles en el país y en la iglesia. En Su carácter como Constructor, el Espíritu Santo ha traído sanidad y unidad a un movimiento que muchos pensaron sería deshecho. Pero Dios . . . pero Dios, es Quien edificó la casa y Quien la ha sostenido.
Este año, celebramos Su fidelidad y Su amor por construir uniéndonos a lo que está haciendo en México: Construyendo. Seguimos el modelo de Jesús cuando dijo en Juan 5:19, “Les digo la verdad, el Hijo no puede hacer nada por su propia cuenta; solo hace lo que ve que el Padre hace. Todo lo que hace el Padre, también lo hace el Hijo . . .” Y si Dios está CONSTRUYENDO . . . nosotros construiremos también.
Invitados y Sesiones
Te invitamos a ti y a tu congregación a acompañarnos en Mexicali, B.C. del miércoles 16 al viernes 18 de octubre para nuestra Conferencia Nacional Viña 2024: Una Reunión de Constructores.

Registro
Te puedes registrar en www.vinamexico.com por solo $150 M.N./persona depositado en BBVA BANCOMER a la cuenta 4555-1130-1242-4125 a Nombre de NOEMI GONZALEZ RUIZ. Les pedimos que una vez hecho el deposito manden por favor una imagen con la ficha de deposito a NAOMY

Zambia Missions Trip

I want to make sure you know that on Monday, July 15th, Matt and Sharon Evans and I will be boarding our flights at LAX destined for Lusaka Zambia.  We have a very full itinerary, and we’ll tell you a little bit more about it on Sunday morning when we ask you to pray over us before we launch out.

This Sunday – Principles for a Thriving Spiritual Family

This Sunday I am planning on finishing our study of 1 Thessalonians.  We’ll be reading  1 Thessalonians 5:12-28.  This is the wrap up of the letter, and I hope you’ll take about 5 minutes to read it before we get together on Sunday.  As Paul, Silas, and Timothy finish their heart felt greetings and encouragements and instructions for the Thessalonian followers of Jesus, they encourage the church in 3 areas: how they should relate to their leaders, how they should relate to each other, and how they should relate to God.  I’m seeing it as some great summary words for how to have a thriving spiritual family.  I hope you’ll be able to join us, as this is the last time I’ll see you until the first week of August when I get back from Zambia!  If you are not able to be with us in person this Sunday, you can always join online via the Zoom app with this info:  Zoom Meeting ID  153 112 432, Passcode 684814. You may also join us on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.

Since this Sunday will be the 6th and final episode in our 1 Thessalonians series, I thought I’d collect the videos of the sermons all in one place for you.  You can watch any of them right here if you’d like to review what we’ve learned so far.  (You can also keep this email handy in case you want to find them later on in your week).

And that’s it for this week’s Weekly Update.  I’ll see many of you tomorrow, and hopefully all of you on Sunday morning!

With love and blessings,

Ron Ohst

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